Thanksgiving has been over for a couple of weeks, and my dietary schedule has finally reached its homeostasis again. However, the next holiday season is right around the corner — just in case every single television commercial in the past month hadn’t tipped you off yet — and regardless of your religious or spiritual affiliation, you will probably eat way too much.

If, however, you plan to fast during the holidays, this column can still apply to you.

This is because getting into shape is important for anybody, regardless of food intake. A person who hasn’t eaten in three days will have less carbs to burn than one stuffed with stuffing, but a person full of turkey will have less motivation to move than one who isn’t.

Regardless, fitness is important, and while I myself am not in peak form (or at least what you can tell from the picture on my byline), I still understand the need for physical activity.

I won’t bombard you with obesity statistics (30.6 percent in America) because they don’t really mean much to an individual. I won’t bring up the fact that America is the most overweight nation in the world by a significant margin because most people know that already. And I refuse to mention the irony that we are beating the country of Hungary in the “Who is more obese” category.

Mostly, I say this because obesity has nothing to do with the issue. People should be comfortable with their appearances, and if they aren’t, that’s why we have television shows such as “Bridalplasty.” I implore you to look it up because I’m still unsure whether or not this is Ashton Kutcher’s greatest episode of “Punk’d” ever.

No, instead of worrying about physical appearance, one should rather focus on how they feel. And while lounging around my apartment for days at a time and re-watching the entire “Arrested Development” series is a nice stress reliever, at the end of it I always feel a tinge of regret that I’m doing nothing with my life.

On the contrary, the situation is quite the opposite after spending only 20 minutes at the gym. I leave pained and regretful, but at the end of it I always applaud myself on actually doing something with my life.

Yes, 20 minutes is a very short time to work out for people in the “active” category, but I am very busy and have the muscle capacity of a walking stick.

In the time of year when depression is at its highest, self-confidence is incredibly important. Since no one can motivate you all the time, you sometimes have to take it upon yourself to set the plan in motion and get some exercise in, even if it’s only jogging a couple of times a week. Releasing endorphins through physical activity (or popping bubble wrap, according to Wikipedia) is a great way to get through the mid-winter blues, especially after consuming half of a turkey.

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